Season two episode four of TNT’s The Alienist begins on a macabre note. Laszlo (Daniel Brühl) pays a visit to a photographer who takes photos of people – mostly children – who have passed. Laszlo spots a picture of a child with the eyes painted on the eyelids and she explains she added them to the negatives. She reveals she’s only done two photos like that over the years, and Laszlo asks where those mothers are now. She says they took their own lives.

On the carriage ride over to the Lying-In Hospital, Sara (Dakota Fanning) and Bitsy (Melanie Field) go over their plan. Bitsy’s going undercover at the hospital and Sara reminds her to be safe.

Libby (Rosy McEwen) shows up at Sara’s office and asks for the file back. Sara wonders if Libby has read the file and Libby shakes her head no. Sara explains the aggressive nurse, Colleen, was the last nurse to check on Martha the night her baby went missing. Libby claims she’s not a gossiper, but Sara asks if she thinks Colleen is capable of kidnapping and murdering a baby. The action cuts to Bitsy at the Lying-in Hospital helping Colleen without showing Libby’s answer.

Bitsy asks where a patient’s child is and Colleen says it was stillborn. Colleen is lost in thought and mutters about him giving her a goldfish and a splash of greenery “which is more than he did for me – Richard.” Bitsy’s shocked by this revelation and Colleen’s not done confessing. “See, they like to get you pregnant to prove to their fellow financial types that their pecker still works,” says Colleen.

Bitsy questions why they aren’t bathing the woman and Colleen explains he’s had her fixed. She suggests they let her sleep as long as she can. The woman hears their discussion and begins to cry.

Libby sneaks into the matron’s office and is trying to put the file back when she suddenly hears the matron coming. She hides the file amongst papers on her messy desk. The matron questions what she’s doing in her office and Libby tries to act innocent. The matron sits down at her desk and picks up the stack of papers. She finds the file and now knows what Libby was up to.

Sara, Laszlo, John (Luke Evans), Marcus (Douglas Smith), Lucius (Matthew Shear), and Narciso Linares (Diego Martin) go over their findings so far. Sara says they believe the woman is a nursing mother and whoever it is is slow to kill. Angry, Linares yells at them about their failure to save the other baby. They remind him the police won’t help him because they view him as the enemy and think he kidnapped his own child.

Sara asks him to allow them to present their theories as well as the steps they’re taking to get his baby back. They’ve identified a poison that was used on the Napp baby. That baby and his child have been at the same hospital. They inform him they have someone working undercover there at this very moment.

Libby rushes in, covered in blood and with the matron hot on her trail yelling, “If the doctor tells you to administer more chloroform, you do it!” Libby says she doesn’t understand what she did wrong and the matron replies, “I know what you were doing in my office. NOW MOP THE FLOOR!”

John buys a copy of the Journal and shows it to his boss, Bernie (Demetri Goritsas). Just then Joanna arrives about a job and Bernie’s taken aback by the fact she’s Black. He asks if she really wrote the article and she says she did. He admits it was good. John ushers her off to show her where she’ll be sitting before Bernie can say anything else.

Sara and Bitsy meet secretly in a church to discuss what Bitsy’s learned about the Lying-In. She reveals the maternal research wing is where they keep the pregnant mistresses of rich men and what’s more peculiar is that there are no babies up there. Sara wonders where all the babies are and Bitsy explains they tell all those women their babies were stillborn.

Sara asks about Colleen and Bitsy confirms she’s a ward girl who started out as a patient after Richard Osgood knocked her up. She’s not sure if Colleen’s baby was stillborn but she can find out. Sara hands her a list of poisons and asks her to check at the hospital and see if they have a log of who signed them out.

Back at the hospital, Bitsy picks the lock on the cabinet where they store the medications. She spots one Sara asked about and begins to look through logs. She writes down what she finds. Colleen catches her and wonders what she’s up to. Bitsy claims it’s nothing and Colleen informs her she’s not allowed to be in there. “But you already know that, don’t you?” Colleen adds.

Over at Sara’s office, she fills the team in on Colleen and shares her thoughts on Colleen being the killer. Laszlo has doubts and Marcus questions if it’s the matron. She has access to everything and most likely oversees the delivery of medications coming into the hospital. Sara believes the matron gets off on the power of being in charge but doesn’t see her as being the murderer. Laszlo also does not want to lose sight of Dr. Markoe. (It seems he would really like to hang onto the notion it’s Markoe.)

Sara points out the profile points to a woman. Sara brings up that these two men – Dr. Markoe and Richard Osgood – will be at the big social event that evening, John’s engagement soirée.

Sara and Laszlo show up to the extravagant event together and when they spot Dr. Markoe they part ways. Laszlo decides to go observe the doctor.

The party’s going on as John speaks to William Randolph Hearst, advising him if he tries to link the kidnappers to Spain and Cuba, he could spook them. William asks if John thinks there are kidnappers and John admits not necessarily, not wanting to give too much away. William realizes John might have a story and John points out he knows he works for The New York Times. When William says, “The Linares are clearly guilty,” a shocked John questions guilty of what. William pulls stuff out of thin air without any proof. He ends the conversation by pointing out Violet’s waiting to see John.

As John walks out, Thomas (Ted Levine) is walking in. He comes in with a gift for Violet and it appears William doesn’t want Thomas at his party. He suggests he grabs some hors d’oeuvres when he leaves through the kitchen. (This is a clear slap in the face to Thomas.)

Back at the party, John finds Sara and lightly teases her about her costume. She informs him she has much to tell him and says Dr. Markoe is there and they need to speak to him tonight. John reminds her they have nothing to confront him with and he doesn’t want her or Laszlo to embarrass him at his engagement party.

Actually, John doesn’t need to worry about his friends embarrassing him because William asks for everyone’s attention and begins to roast John for working for The New York Times. After he good-naturedly belittles John, he presents the couple with a gift – a brand-new carriage. Violet, who doesn’t seem to like her husband being around Sara, makes comments about how they’re dusting him off and he’ll no longer need rides from Sara.

Laszlo corners Richard (Ryan Ellsworth) at the party and gets to the point, revealing he knows about the girl in the research wing that was his doing. Richard threatens to have him kicked out of the party – and out of the country. Then, proving what a sleazeball he is, Richard says these girls are hardly innocent.

As Richard begins to walk away Laszlo stops him in his tracks by saying, “Tell me what you know about Colleen.” Richard questions if Laszlo thinks Colleen did this, explaining Colleen worked in sales and he wined and dined her. He describes her as spirited, hotblooded, and feisty, and says he broke her in. Richard says he believed her child died.

Sara and John find a quiet place to speak, and Sara admits to John she’s afraid he’s being bought while on the cusp of him finding his own powerful voice. He accuses her of behaving like a sister and thinks she should thank Violet for all that she’s done for the party. Sara believes Violet just humiliated him and when he tries to deny it, she points out she laughed at him in front of all his friends. Sara thinks he deserves better and he points out he asked her to marry him (in season one) but she said no.

Bitsy continues her undercover work at the hospital and thanks Colleen for not ratting her out to the matron. They seem to be bonding until Bitsy tries to ask about her and Markoe. Colleen seems stunned, then mad, and storms out. Libby overheard what happened and tells Bitsy that Colleen tries to pretend nothing goes on between her and Markoe. She also suggests she should apologize to Colleen.

Libby finds the woman Richard impregnated trying to get dressed. Libby questions what she’s doing and tells her she should be in bed. The woman believed all Richard’s sweet nothings and begs Libby to help her.

Once more to the party we go and Violet is jealous of Sara and John talking. John heads off to look for Violet and finds her in a locked room. She seduces him while the party’s still going on, just to make sure she has his attention.

Laszlo seems to be muttering to himself about the party-goers when it appears he meets his match. A woman begins to correct him as he mutters and it turns out she’s a professor. They know each other’s work. She offers him her card and walks away. He seems quite smitten.

The woman from the hospital shows up at the party in her fancy dress, looking for Richard. She spots him and begins yelling at him wondering why he didn’t come to her. She’s causing a scene and asks if he knew what happened to her. Dr. Markoe gets to her first and grabs her. Sara also runs to her, asking if she was just in Lying-In Hospital. The woman confirms she was and Sara tells Dr. Markoe to remove his hands from the woman or she’ll scream bloody murder. He obeys, and Sara continues to ask what happened. The woman explains they took her baby and then fixed her. Markoe jumps in, claiming she had an infection and he saved her life. He assures her he’ll have a carriage take her to Richard’s townhouse. (Right. She’ll most likely die for this outburst.)

Sara begs the woman not to go with him but she doesn’t listen.

Señora Linares arrives at Sara’s office to speak with Sara, Laszlo, Marcus, and Lucius. She remembers when she took her baby to the hospital there was a nurse who worked there who always stared at her. The nurse didn’t touch her or help her, but always watched her. She recalls looking back at her one last time as she left the hospital and, most importantly, she remembers her face. It’s the same person she saw outside the museum on the day her baby was kidnapped.

Milly joins the group in Sara’s office. She obtained the photos from that day and Señora Linares looks through them. She spots the nurse and points her out to Sara. Sara looks at the photo and exclaims, “My god!”

They all rush off to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Bitsy offers to help Colleen clean and apologizes for upsetting her. Bitsy wonders if Colleen ever had any children. She asks Colleen if she lost one and if she can still have kids. Colleen hastily explains she was going to bleed out and they had to save her. That’s what Libby told her, at least. In an accusatory tone, Bitsy asks what happened to Martha Napp’s baby and Colleen looks shocked.

Colleen becomes angry and slaps Bitsy. A bucket of water goes over as they continue to fight. Bitsy gets away and locks herself in a room, unaware Libby’s in there. Bitsy finally spots her and notices she has black residue on her mouth as she fills up a syringe. She tells Bitsy, “You sure do ask a lot of questions.”

With that, Libby stabs Bitsy in the neck with the syringe as Colleen witnesses it all from the other side of the locked door. Before passing out, Bitsy’s able to get to the door and unlock it while Libby runs off.

Sara’s group arrives and she and Lucius remain trying to help Bitsy while Marcus and Laszlo chase after Libby. Unfortunately, they lose her.

Lucius is able to inject an antidote and Bitsy eventually wakes up, but not before giving everyone a scare.

Libby runs to the matron’s house and barges in. The matron demands she leave and Libby slaps her across the face. Libby begins to cry and rambles on about how she wants to rest her weary bones. She then begins to choke the matron. Libby asks how it feels to rip lives away from the women at the ward. She produces a knife and stabs her repeatedly.

Libby draws eyes on the matron’s closed eyelids with her own blood.

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TNT’s The Alienist season two episode three begins with Sara (Dakota Fanning) being hypnotized by Laszlo (Daniel Brühl). She doesn’t want to subject Señora Linares to something she does not fully believe in, so she tries it out for herself.

She sees herself as a child, 12 years old and running with a balloon. She seems happy until she looks down and notices her hands are covered in blood. She somehow wakes herself up and tells Laszlo to stop.

The Isaacson brothers join Sara, Laszlo, and John (Luke Evans) at Sara’s office to examine the clothing the Napp baby was found in. It appears to have a black substance on it and when Sara’s assistant, Milly (Georgia Lowe), asks what it is they reveal it’s charcoal and blood.

Upon further examination of the baby’s dress it appears to be handmade. They’re debating whether Dr. Markoe has done this or a woman, perhaps a woman who is angry. Maybe she can’t have a child or lost a child.

Another of Sara’s employees, Bitsy (Melanie Field), comes in with a list of donors to the Lying-In Hospital since this particular hospital relies on donations. John recognizes one of their names. Sara asks if they can meet with him.

Later, Sara meets John at his fencing practice where he’s sparring with his friend Ogden Gildersleeve (Paul Reid), the donor John recognized. John pretends Sara’s visit is unexpected and Ogden seems to take a liking to Sara. He agrees to lend his help, however, she needs it.

At the hospital, the woman we saw in the last episode giving birth is asking the doctor where her baby is. He simply states, “I’m afraid your child is with the angels now.” The woman becomes hysterical and they inject her with drugs to calm her down.

Sara takes a trip to the hospital and finds a room full of women lined up and breastfeeding. Another woman is being held down and having medication shoved down her throat. The matron (Heather Goldenhersh) finds her and asks if she’s lost. After introducing herself to the matron, she informs her she’s there to see Dr. Markoe.

In his office, Dr. Markoe (Michael McElhatton) recognizes Sara from the Martha Napp execution. She thinks he seems unconcerned the baby’s body was discovered after Martha was put to death. He tries to tell her that’s not true and she gets to the point; the baby was found poisoned with a substance that can be found in his hospital. She asks what happened the night the baby went missing. He attempts to blame the staff, calling them simple ward girls.

Sara wonders if there’s a report from that night and he tells her there isn’t. He claims they have nothing to hide and agrees she can see the room where Martha was kept.

The matron explains she was kept in a room by herself due to the fact she had a bowel infection. Sara asks if this infection was written down somewhere, surely in Martha’s file. If so, Sara would like to see it. The matron claims they can’t be giving it out to anyone.

The matron turns her attention to a nurse and asks why a patient is sleeping. It’s discovered she’s bleeding heavily. After the matron berates the nurse, she leaves to get the doctor. Sara takes that opportunity to question the nurse who introduces herself as Libby (Rosy McEwen). Sara is curious if she knew Martha Napp and if this was Martha’s room. (She doesn’t believe the matron.) Her suspicions are correct. Libby says, “It was when she came, but not the night you are talking about.”

Before Sara can ask anything further, the matron and doctor arrive and ask Libby to show Sara out.

On their way out, Sara asks Libby if she can tell her more about the maternal research ward. She asks if that was where Martha was kept that night. Libby states no, she was in delivery and postpartum. She adds that Martha’s roommate from that night won’t tell her anything. “But you will, won’t you?” asks Sara.

Libby says she can’t and doesn’t know what happened to Martha’s baby. She adds that none of them do.

Their conversation is abruptly cut short when a woman screams. A nurse is attempting to de-lice her, but the nurse seems to be pulling out her hair. The matron comes running in to help as the nurse is being overly aggressive and suggesting they chop off her hair. The matron tells the nurse, Colleen, to go to the doctor’s office immediately. The nurse responds with a firm, “No.”

Sara has been taking all this in and says if she the nurse doesn’t want to go to the doctor’s office, she’s quite certain she doesn’t have to. The matron doesn’t pay her any attention and says, “Colleen, you are to go to the doctor’s office right now!”

After stabbing the scissors into a bedside table, Colleen leaves.

Laszlo puts Martha and her baby to rest, throwing the blanket Martha gave him in the grave.

The Isaacson brothers are back at their lab discussing how strange it is for the baby’s stomach to be with them, but the child has already been buried. Marcus (Douglas Smith) talks about how we have a soul and conscience, while Lucius’ thinking is more along the lines of bodies being made of biological material. Lucius seems off and Marcus asks if something’s wrong. Lucius (Matthew Shear) tells him no. So far, the brothers have found poison, powdered carbon, and breastmilk in the baby’s system.

Sara’s waiting outside the hospital in her carriage for Libby to leave the hospital. She spots the young woman and offers to take her to lunch. When Libby seems hesitant Sara promises she can trust her.

Over lunch, Sara asks how the woman from earlier is doing – the one who was bleeding. Libby says she’s fine and then admits she knows why Sara invited her to lunch but claims she doesn’t know very much. Sara wants to know if anyone came and asked questions and wrote stuff done, and Libby says yes. When Sara asks if she would be able to see that report, Libby becomes nervous and says she must return to work soon. Sara assures her they still have time and Libby spots a photo of Sara’s dad she keeps in her watch. They soon realize they, unfortunately, have something in common. Both their fathers committed suicide.

Before parting ways after lunch, Sara confides in her that another baby has gone missing and she believes they are connected. Sara tells Libby who the missing child is and notes that baby once stayed at the hospital. Libby remembers them and recalls it was all very hush-hush. Libby says the matron kept that baby close to her and wouldn’t let anyone near the baby. Sara asks if she knows where the matron lives.

Obviously the answer was yes as Sara shows up at the matron’s place. An older tenant stops her from trying to enter the apartment and Sara tries to play it off saying she was going to knock but didn’t want to wake the baby. The woman informs her that tenant doesn’t have a child. Sara asks if the woman ever brings babies home. The neighbor says she used to from time to time but hasn’t done so in quite a while.

When Sara asks if she remembers the last time she brought a baby home, the woman reveals the last one she brought home she really showered with attention. But, she had to give her back. She adds that it was sad because she can’t have a child of her own.

Back at the hospital, the woman who just gave birth and lost her child wakes ups to see the matron trying on a gorgeous gown the rich man who got her pregnant sent over. The woman begins to cry, stating she doesn’t want the dress. Bizarrely, the matron dances around the room in the dress.

Libby sneaks into where the files are kept and secures Martha’s file. She suddenly hears the doctor’s voice draw near and he’s standing in front of the door. She overhears him talking to former chief Thomas Byrnes (Ted Levine) and complaining about Sara Howard showing up there. He explains the matron caught her snooping and he’s sure the hospital’s donors wouldn’t like what’s going on. Thomas asks if there’s anything to unearth on the Martha Napp case that could connect the hospital to the missing Spanish baby. Markoe assures him of course there isn’t and both men finally walk away.

Violet (Emily Barber) shows up at The New York Times with her little dog and asks John about the papers he’s holding. He reveals they’re death certificates of the babies at the Lying-In Hospital. Regretting she asked, she asks him not to tell her such horrible stories because they’ll give her nightmares. She’s actually there to obtain the guestlist for their upcoming wedding.

Sara pays Laszlo a visit while he’s in a session with a boy. He allows her to come in and watch. After the session, he asks if she’s gotten anywhere with the Martha Napp case. She says sadly no, but she feels she has a confidant who will help. She has suspicions about the matron. Laszlo thinks they’ve reached an impasse. Sara informs him not quite; Señora Linares has agreed to be hypnotized.

As the session begins, Señor Linares (Diego Martin) is skeptical. Sara assures him she herself has been hypnotized and it will be all right. Laszlo asks Señora Linares (Bruna Cusí) what she sees. She describes a painting in the Metropolitan Museum and he instructs her to turn away from the painting. We see her walking in the park outside the museum. As Laszlo repeatedly asks who or what she sees, she faints.

While Marcus goes over what he discovered about the chemicals mixed together in the baby’s body, Lucius’ guilty conscience gets the best of him and he confesses he needs to tell his brother something. He reveals he did something horrible and explains Thomas came to see him one day and he told him about the Linares case. Marcus asks why he would do that and Lucius explains Thomas had threatened Marcus. Thomas warned he would find a way to destroy Marcus if he didn’t give him information about the Linares case.

John, Sara, and Laszlo discuss what went wrong with Señora Linares and how they could fix it for the next session. Señora Linares once was a painter so she sees things very vividly. John suggests maybe they can get her to paint next time. Sara believes they should ask Señora Linares’ art teacher, Cecilia Beaux, to assist them.

Cecilia agrees to help them since the baby’s life is at stake.

Laszlo puts Señora Linares under again and asks where she is. She relives her visit to the park outside the Museum of Art on the day her baby disappeared. She describes where she is and they realize she’s at The Tea House. She believes she’s being watched and describes a dark presence that’s threatening her as female. She can’t see it, but she can feel it. She’s afraid. “She is close. I feel it. I can sense it,” says Señora Linares.

She sees a flash, like a gunshot. She sees the woman and describes her heart as beating fast. She wakes and says it is gone.

Sara and Milly go to The Tea House to investigate and Sara spots a photographer. When he takes a photo, there’s a flash – like a gunshot. She tells Milly to ask him if he still has anything from that day.

Libby meets Sara outside her building and hands over the Martha Napp file. She needs to put it back before anyone realizes it’s missing. Libby has to leave and asks if she can pick up the file from Sara the following day.

It’s the night of John’s bachelor party and he doesn’t seem interested in it, wanting to call it a night early on. Ogden tries to talk him out of it and suggests they slum it somewhere and get a nightcap. John agrees but says he gets to choose where they’re going.

Laszlo picks up on John’s subdued behavior and asks if they should have a toast together. They toast to John’s grandmother who would be happy John is marrying Violet.

Sara’s still at her office looking over papers when John and Laszlo show up asking her to join them. At first, she declines because she isn’t interested in attending John’s bachelor party. He insists this part of the evening will be an intimate setting with his closest friends. She picks up on Laszlo being intoxicated and finally agrees.

Sara tells them in the carriage she has the file on Martha Napp and her baby. She also informs them of her plan to have someone go into the hospital undercover. She thinks she’ll send in her assistant, Bitsy.

The group shows up at the Oyster Saloon where they know the bar owner. (It’s the same bar they were in looking for Goo Goo Knox.) Cyrus (Robert Wisdom) the owner congratulates John on his engagement while Sara asks Ogden about getting someone employed at the Lying-In Hospital. He admits it sounds very cloak and dagger-ish but seems happy to help her.

John asks Cyrus if his daughter is still studying the law. She is, but Cyrus admits this isn’t the best place for her to do that. John recalls she used to work for the newspaper in Philly and suggests maybe he can get her a job at The New York Times. Cyrus is stunned by the suggestion and very appreciative of the offer.

Laszlo draws everyone’s attention so he can deliver a toast to John. Surprisingly, it’s a very touching, heartfelt, and beautiful speech. With the way Laszlo is you never know what’s going to come out of his mouth. Most of the time he manages to offend someone, but not in this instance.

As the episode ends, we see baby Anna crying and a woman picking her up. Of course we can’t see the woman, but whoever it is appears to be breastfeeding the baby.

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